Weird History 14 Suave Playboys From Throughout History Who Are Actually Total Scumbags

For centuries, society has cheered for men who racked up the greatest number of “conquests”—conquests of women, that is. Apparently sleeping with thousands of women is a badge of accomplishment in some circles. And even several popes have bragged about their sexually activity. But the biggest playboys in history were also pretty terrible human beings.

The men on this list were all huge scumbags who treated women like garbage. When Fidel Castro wasn't palling around with Che Guevara, he was scouring the beaches of Havana for his next “meal.” Pablo Picasso drove two of his lovers to suicide, while Henry VIII beheaded two of his. But at least one of the men repented on his deathbed, warning others not to idolize his sexual exploits.

From Hugh Hefner’s scheduled group sex nights to Lord Byron’s pubic hair collection, these lotharios were not the greatest male lovers in history—they were historical womanizers who should be exposed for their exploits. And now it’s your turn to weigh in on the sleaziest playboys in history.

Genghis Khan has approximately 17 million direct male descendants, placing him on the list for one of the greatest sex lives in history. However, his methods for becoming the genetic ancestor of 8% of Central Asia’s population are less than savory. Genghis Khan raped countless women during his conquests to control his empire.

"The real greatest pleasure of men is to repress rebels and defeat enemies, to exterminate them and grab everything they have; to see their married women crying, to ride on their steeds with smooth backs, to treat their beautiful queens and concubines as pajamas and pillows."

The Cuban dictator Fidel Castro supposedly slept with 35,000 women in his lifetime. Castro reportedly sent his guards out to the beaches of Havana to recruit beautiful women for him to sleep with. He even paired sex partners with his meals, aiming for a different “lunch” and “dinner” partner every day. Castro also admitted to sleeping with girls as young as 15 years old.

In 1943, at age 61, Picasso reportedly told his 21-year-old mistress that “women are machines for suffering.” He added, “for me there are only two kinds of women, goddesses and doormats.”

Picasso, who allegedly started visiting brothels at age 13, led at least two of his lovers to commit suicide and two others to suffer mental breakdowns. In the 1930s, Picasso left his first wife, Olga, for his pregnant mistress, but he refused to divorce Olga to prevent her from inheriting any of his wealth. Olga remained married to Picasso until she died from cancer in 1955.

Giacomo Casanova nearly became a priest before he was expelled for sleeping with another student. After leaving the seminary, Casanova devoted himself to seducing women. "Cultivating whatever gave pleasure to my senses was always the chief business of my life," Casanova wrote in his autobiography. He also admitted to forcing a peasant girl to have sex with him and beating a prostitute when she refused him. He also most likely spread gonorrhea and syphilis to his many partners.